Saturday, July 5, 2008

haiti update - july 5, 2008

“ He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” Proverbs 14:31

Hi! It’s great to be back in Haiti again after visiting Canada for the last few weeks! We made a few presentations on the work here at Coram Deo and were able to do some fundraising. Thank you for your prayers and support of the work done here. Our monthly budgetary needs are $6,000 US per month and for the past year we were $19,000 under budget for the year. We look forward to the upcoming year as we are planning to start our school program again. We will be introducing a child sponsorship program. Anyone interested in sponsoring a child can contact me at my email address listed below. We hope to have 2 classes for poor children living in the neighborhood as well as 1 deaf class. I look forward to having the yard full of children again! The Haitians living in the community have been supportive and an elderly lady who sits out front all day long selling cookies and candies gave a welcome back gift of a marmite of beans. Things at the house went well while I was gone and the last couple of days I have been catching up on things that have happened. First I had to buy another battery for the pickup truck because the other one was no good and wouldn’t hold a charge anymore. While we were hauling food yesterday the steel bumper started to fall off but we tied it up with rope and partially fixed it when we got home. Just before I went to Canada in June the truck got rear-ended by a van while we were driving downtown. The bumper seemed sturdy at the time though. The van ended up with some front-end damage. The driver apologized and said that he had trouble with the gas pedal. I figured it was either that or trouble with the brakes. We have had about 12 minor accidents in the last couple of years and the pickup truck has been holding up well!“Frank”, one of the members of the Judas Gang who stole my computer in October is now living in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. His thieving in the Delmas 31 neighborhood was starting to catch up to him. He stole from someone near the mayor’s office on Delmas 31 and was pursued by some people. He ran for his life and was able to escape getting caught. Since he is now recognized as a thief by the people in this area he has fled all the way to the Dominican Republic! “Mack” another member of this gang has now sold his motorcycle that was purchased with the proceeds of my stolen solar panels and is preparing to join his uncle in crime in the Dominican Republic as well. It seems that Frank has found some “work” in Santo Domingo. I am not sure though what type of “work” this is.Phara Simeon, a hydrocephalus baby returned from the United States while I was gone and is now back with her mother. She had a successful surgery and now I will keep contact with her and encourage her in raising her daughter. Phara is doing very good neurologically but it will be a few years before she will be able to sit and do other things due to the size of her head. Her body needs to grow and catch up to the size of her head. Keep this family in prayer and that Phara continues to make strides in her development. While I was in Canada there were a few families that came to the gate asking about help for their children who had hydrocephalus. Lukner visited their homes and we’ll follow up with these families in the next couple of weeks. One of these mothers was told by the father of the baby to throw it away but she didn’t want to do this and instead went searching for help. Another mother that we met with was told by the father of the baby that it couldn’t be his child because he wouldn’t father a hydrocephalus child. A week ago a hydrocephalus baby was abandoned in a cornfield. Somebody walking nearby heard a baby crying and went to look. The Haitian Red Cross came and removed the baby. We went downtown to the abandoned children’s ward at the state hospital to see if the baby was there this morning but it wasn’t. This ward is very full right now. A few of the beds were holding 3 children to a bed. All of the children in the abandoned ward are handicapped. The abandonment of children here in Haiti happens a lot. Some people living in the Arcachon 32 area of Carrefour heard a baby crying throughout the night one evening last week. In the morning people found a dead baby in front of the gate of the state hospital there. Pray that one day the practice of abandoning children stops.Benson Junius is recovering well from his plastic surgery. His hand looks good. We will need to do some physical therapy with him on his knee but he is healing well. He is a special kid. When he was a baby his 3-year-old brother at the time was playing with matches and set the bed on fire, which caused Benson to be badly burned. The plastic surgeon that did Benson’s recent surgery told me that children who are burned that severely usually end up dying but I know that Benson had a strong spirit and God had a plan for him. Benson thinks that his brother was jealous and that is the reason he set the bed on fire but he told me that he is not angry with him because he is his brother. I promised Benson that in August we would visit his brother and his aunt. It was his aunt who brought Benson here to Coram Deo. She knew that we had helped Benson as a baby after he was burned and knew that he would have a good home here at Coram Deo. She did this to remove him from the care of his mother who was crazy and living with Benson on the streets of Port-au-Prince. Keep praying for Benson as he continues his recovery from surgery and that he would get full mobility in his knee.Lukner’s nephew was shot and killed during a robbery attempt in the downtown area of Port-au-Prince last Friday. He had gone on his motorcycle to make a deposit for someone at a downtown bank. When he left the bank he didn’t know that he was being followed. A couple of thieves riding a motorcycle followed him and when his nephew made a stop at a downtown park to buy something they confronted him with their guns. He tried to escape on his motorcycle but they shot him several times in the head and neck and he died. A couple of motorcycle policemen heard the shooting and came quickly but the gunmen left their motorcycle behind and fled on foot merging into a crowd of people. Lukner’s 25-year-old nephew left behind a wife and a young child. Keep this family in prayer.That’s all the news for today. Have a good weekend!Karen Bultje, Coram Deo